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Senator Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach) issued the following statement after Senate Democrats approved Assembly Constitutional Amendment 20 (ACA 20), a measure that expands the state's borrowing authority while failing to address legislative Democrats’ chronic overspending:
“ACA 20 is like taking out a new credit card to pay off the balance on an old one while continuing the same reckless spending habits that created the problem in the first place. It represents a missed opportunity to be more fiscally responsible.
“Instead of confronting the majority party’s spending addiction, ACA 20 asks taxpayers to bankroll it. It’s a lose-lose situation for California families.
“Families must live within a budget and make hard financial decisions. The State Legislature should do the same. But Senate Democrats have an addiction to spending, which is why California doesn’t have a revenue problem. We have a wasteful spending problem.”
Background: While a provision in ACA 20 mentions the COVID-era unemployment debt owed to the federal government, it does not require repayment of the UI debt. California is the only state that still carries an outstanding federal loan balance, exceeding $20 billion. According to the California Business Roundtable (CBRT), employers face automatic payroll tax increases nearly nine times higher than in states that have repaid their debts, with hundreds of millions diverted to interest payments.